So close but no cigar, by feet and minutes was the theme for me this past wekeend in ND.
Well, I’m back from my Whitetail hunt in ND. I was bummed leaving last night, as for I usually hunt all this week until Friday afternoon and usually catch the front end of the “SEARCHING AND CHASE” phase of the rut. Well as far as it looks, that is exactly what should be happening by Thursday if the weather holds and stays fairly cool. It looks like they should have a decent rifle opener up there for the above reason, but also it looks like most of the corn should be harvested by then and only a few standing corn fields by Friday High Noon (ND opening Day and Time).
All in all I had a pretty good 3 day hunt. The hunt started Saturday morning on a farm that I’m really growing to love more and more each year. This farm just seems to hold monster bruisers every year. I was set up in one of my favorite stands that is between a few food sources and a few bedding areas, that is hard to hunt for the fact the deer seem to come from all directions. My buddy Paul was hunting a new set up only a couple hundred yards away that looks to be real promising come the chase phase. We got settled in early in our stands as for we are hunting another Monster buck that is about 22” inside and has 20 score able points. About 15 minutes before shooting light I have movement on 3 sides of me as deer are on the move early. I pick up the sound of a deer on a trail 36 yards in front of me and it circles around my tree and now is stopped behind me @17 yards. I can see movement but not detail of this deer. So pulling out my Nikon Monarch 10×42 binocs and I’m rewarded in a sight of a monster 8 pointer that appears to be the 150-160 class eight point that has been gone for almost a year. He takes a few more steps and I lose him in the brush and he is gone as fast as he came in. As the sky begins to brighten, I’m still in awe of the sight I saw only minutes earlier. I sit the rest of the morning and see a few does and fawns, a spike and a decent 100-1110 inch eight pointer.
That Saturday evening I sit out on the edge of my buddy’s field on a Rye food plot planted only a few weeks before that the deer are just devouring. 
I saw a good number of does and fawns and the deer were really spooky that evening. My buck decoy caught the interest of a few does that did not particularly like my decoy or perhaps the dominant buck urine on a wick next to the decoy. He cleared the field 2 times that evening and made me decide that perhaps not quit right timing for the decoy and put him a way the rest of the trip. Not so much for the clearing of the field, but not even seeing a buck come out into a highly used field.
Sunday morning I was going to sit in my buddies woods on my favorite and most productive stand, “THE KNOBBY” with a perfect West wind. I have harvested 2 of my 3 ND bucks from this stand. These set ups in the woods at my buddies require crossing a river in a 10’ duck boat and crawling up a river bank to the stands that are set just off the bank, anywhere from 10-35 yards. Keeping this area real scent free and low impact. I ended up only seeing 5 deer that morning including 2 button bucks that looked like 2 lab pups, that just burned around the area doing hot laps for half of the morning. The first time I heard them I thought AHHHHAAA a buck chasing a doe. Only to see two small deer go whizzing by me at Mach 10, as this was the theme for these 2 the whole morning. I saw a spike and had a great encounter with a “Tweener” 8 point. This buck had some great length and decent spread @ about 18”. For those of you wondering what a “Tweener” buck is? It is a buck that is real close to P&Y and could go either way. Well I would say this one would come up a tad short by a few inches. I had just got done with a bleat can when I heard rustling behind me as I watched this buck come straight in with his nose to the ground and circle my tree looking for the doe that was calling
Search he did to no avail, but what a beauty encounter on that cold crisp frosty morning. The other buck I had saw that morning would be making a second appearance on Halloween Night. As this morning he seemed just to appear out of nowhere and only gave me about a 3 second look with my binocs at his rack at about 50 yards through the thick stuff. As fast as he came, poof he was gone. 
Sunday night, we had a good wind to hunt the “Pines” farm, so I went back t in search of the Monster 20 pointer buck. As I’m set up in our new stand, that is about 200 yards off the field in between the bedding area. I had some high hopes for this evening and this was my first time in this stand. Well I went out and seen absolutely ZERO deer.
Well having faith in that set up and still a good wind I decided to go back to that same stand the following Halloween morning. This sit was going to be extra special as my girl friend Stacie was going to sit at my feet on the ladder stand as I stood on the seat the whole morning. Again we get in there early and get settled in. Again about 10 minutes before shooting light I hear a deer coming in and come in it did. As this deer was coming in, I could hear it was going to pass within just a few yards of us on the down wind side. As it came into view behind the huge cottonwood patch we are set up in, I could see the silhouette of the rack and see the mass of the body of this giant. Again pulling my binocs up to pick up a little more light than what my eyes can gather, I see the buck I have dreamt about the last 5 months. It is the 20 point buck . Now this buck is only about 4 yards away, down wind and my girl friends feet is only about 6 feet above his head. The buck just keeps doing tight circles only yards from us as he smells the scent wick I have placed out, but can’t find the deer. He stops again and alls I can think is c’mon just stay around for awhile. It seemed that he could sense something not quite right and he scooted off about 30 yards only to stop and continue to look. As the sky continues to brighten he works his way back to his bed again, leaving me just minutes before I could shoot
. I ended up only seeing 5 does and fawns that morning with a nice heavy 6 point that appeared to be 2.5 years old that looks like if he makes it to 4.5 years will be a dandy buck. But just being that close to that buck before light and sharing the experience with Stacie made my day. 
Now for the feet part of the story: It has always been a thing of mine to shoot a trophy buck on Halloween night. I never try to miss Hunting a Halloween night, just for the mystique of it and always hearing of monster bucks harvested on Halloween night. Well I was back in my buddies Woods for my last sit of this 3 day hunt. After crossing the river and climbing the river bank I was climbing into the Knobby stand as I pick up movement on the far ridge. I glass it with my binocs to observe a decent size buck but definitely not a shooter. I get settled in and about 15 minutes before sunset I hear a deer walking towards me form the south. Another decent 8 pointer but probably would not crack the 100 inch barrier. Then about 10 minutes later I hear a deer on the other ridge across the river that I recognize from the other morning as his 10-11” white tined G2’s catch my attention. This is with out a question a shooter buck for me as he is pushing close to the 150 inch mark with a good spread about 18-19” and 10 nice points. Not thinking I had a chance in heck, I gave him the bleat can as I watched him disappear into the brush, just like the other morning. So I focus my attention back to my side of the river only to hear a twig snap and boom there he is in the same spot as he was the other morning on my side of the river. That buck crossed the river in the same spot as the other morning when he just appeared out of nowhere. The other strange thing is, he had to almost touch my boat coming up the trail to the top of the river bank. He started to walk away to the North, so I hit the bleat can again and turned him on a dime and now he was coming towards me. Knowing that if he stayed up on the river bank ridge I would not have a shot at him, I got down on me knees in the stand. This would allow me to get a shot of if he came off that ridge down into the hollow. He would come, stop, look, come stop, look. Just as he was about to enter my lane I came to full draw. He was about 34 yards out on the ridge and needed him to come down off the ridge and he would be 32 yards and clear for a shot. This buck has now been down wind of me also for a long time. Never knowing when I’m going to beat a deers nose I started get worried, but being such a warm afternoon and sweating getting to my stand my faith in my scent protection was not 100%. It was a stand off inch by inch this buck was coming in. Being down wind the whole time with down thermals, I was not feeling good about it. After about 30-40 seconds of being at full draw and only about 7 feet from this Buck being sausage. This buck decides something is not right and scoots. Not blowing, not doing anything but decided to trot on. Did he wind me??? Probably, do I think my Scent Blocker suit did it’s job Absolutely, with out a question. See my next post on this subject. Well that is my 3 day Hunt in a long nutshell! I’m pumped to get back up there the 3rd week of November to continue where I left off.
Although I did not harvest a deer this trip, I thought it was a very succesful hunt. Enjoying time in stand with Stacie, having numerous encounters with bruiser bucks and other decent deer, sharing the stories with my best bud Paul and game planning on how to beat these suckers is more than half the fun.
With the new moon phase, the bucks just starting to get the itch, and with a lot of crops already off the field, I think it will be a great opener for those of you looking for MR. BIG Good Luck to everyone this weekend, shoot straight and remember safety is #1 priorty!
keep writing.
which are also scent free. Once I’m in the field, I take my scent free storage bag of all my hunting clothes down to my socks up wind of my vehicle and strip down to my undies and dress only enough to keep me warm on my way to the stand. I will also pop in a piece of Gumo-flaugeto kill my breathe and spray myself, my clothes, rubber boots and equipment with White Lighting scent killing spray. Once I’m close to the stand I will dress a little more to keep noise and movement in stand a minimal. Then once in stand I will add finishing touches of a Scent Blocker facemask & hat, etc. Am I ANAL you ask???????? You bet, but I can not argue with results and success. Bow hunting is something I take very seriosuly, especially this time of year in ND.
But it just did not work out for me this time 
